SEA GAMES: Malaysia Defend Sea Games Football Gold Medal

JAKARTA, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Malaysia defended their gold medal in the football final at the 26th SEA Games when they defeated Indonesia 4-3 on penalties at the Utama Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, here, Monday night.

Malaysian's winning goal in the penalty kick was by team captain Baddrol Bakhtiar when the two countries were tied 3-3 after Ferdinan Sinaga's penalty kick was blocked by Khairul Fahmi Che Mat.

The defeat squashed the hope of Indonesian squad under Rahmad Darmawan to collect gold after their last football gold in 1991.

Playing before a 100,000-crowd, Malaysia were shocked by a fourth minute goal through a header by defender Gunawan Dwi Cahayo.

Even under pressure with the early goal, Ong Kim Swee's charges were not demoralised as they mounted several dangerous attacks through the combination of Baddrol Bakhtiar, Ahmad Fakri Saarani dan A. Thamil Arasu.

In the 16th minute, the national squad were shocked again with a second goal but it was denied by referee Tojo Minoru of Japan as scorer Titus Bonai was offside.

The Indonesian trio of Octovianus, Patrich Wanggai and Titus made several dangerous attempts but goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi worked hard to stop them.

In the 33rd minute, Asraruddin Putra Omar broke the Indonesian defence with a header just outside the penalty area to equalise for Malaysia.

The score was tied 1-1 at half time, and the two teams continued to look for the winning goal.

Malaysia appeared to dominate play in the second half but could not yield a goal.

The Malaysian defence mounted by Khairul Fahmi and his defenders gave an outstanding performance in deflecting Indonesia's attacks.

In the 77th minute, Kim Swee put in Muhd Nazmi Faiz Mansor to replace K. Gurusamy and Yong Kuong Yong to replace Thamil Arasu three minutes later.

The move paid off as Muhd Nazmi and Yong with Mohd Irfan and Baddrol created several close calls against Indonesia.

The match was tied at 1-1 in regular time and the score remained unchanged in extra time.

Octovianus was chosen as the best player of the match tonight.

Myanmar took the bronze medal when they beat the 2009 SEA Games runners-up Vietnam 4-1 today.

List of players:

MALAYSIA: Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Mahali Jasuli, Mohd Fadhli Mohd Shas, Mohamad Muslim Ahmad, Mohd Asraruddin Putra Omar (Mohamad Fandi Othman), Mohd Zubir Mohd Azmi, Mohd Irfan Fazail, K. Gurusamy (Muhd Nazmi Faiz Mansor), Baddrol Bakhtiar, A. Thamil Arasu (Yong Kuong Yong), Ahmad Fakri Saarani.

INDONESIA: Kurnia Meiga, Hasim Kipuw, Diego Michiels, Abdul Rahman, Gunawan Dwi Cahyo, Mahadirga Lasut (Hendro Siswanto), Egi Melgiansyah, Octovianus Maniani, Andik Vermansyah (Ferdinan Sinaga), Titus Bonai, Patrich Wanggai (Ramdani Lestaluhu),

-- BERNAMA